Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 11, 1 November 1996 — Hanoa receives ʻAha Kūpuna Award [ARTICLE]

Hanoa receives ʻAha Kūpuna Award

Kupuna Pele Hanoa of Na'alehu was selected for OHA's 19% Ka Hā Mai Kalahikiola Nali'i'elua Award. Kupuna Hanoa, 73, was bom in Punalu'u, Ka'ū, and has received nahonal and internationaI recognition for her work. She served as a cultural and protocol advisor to the Jason Project in New York whieh generated education programs in the United States and 48 other countries. She was nominated by Trustee Moanikeala Akaka of Hawai'i island and the OHA Board's Committee on Education and Culture neeommended that she be granted the award. She is the mother of seven, grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of four. A former Department of Education kupuna, she taught Hawaiian culture and language to elementary students. Kupuna Hanoa was a delegate to the Indigenous Women Network Conference in Minnesota, and a panel member of the Wisdom of Grandmothers for the NGO Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

In her own commumty, she has been a dedicated senior and was recognized with the 19% j Senior Presidential Award for her work as a senior dub president. She aIso received the Governor Kilohana Award for outstanding volunteerism. She enjoys horseback riding on her ranch and provides hikes and excursions for children and teachers to various Hawaiian historical sites. Video documents Kalapana The Board of Trustees granted Puna Paia'ala Productions, an ad hoe committee based at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, $19,262 to help finance the group's video and written documentation of the Hawaiian culture of Kalapana. Many traditional Hawaiian cultural practices are still known in the area. The video's aim is to help , perpetuate this cultural resource. - Total cost of the project is almost $45,000. The i group already received a script writing grant from the Hawai'i Committee for the Humanities. [ Money has also eome from the Nahonal Park Service.